Front of the Grid

Sebastien Loeb has completed a straightforward victory on Rally Catalunya, reducing the gap to championship leader Mikko Hirvonen to one point ahead of the final round in Wales in three weeks time.

Loeb was behind Citroen teammate and home favourite Dani Sordo until late on Saturday, when he provided little resistance to Loeb's bid for victory. Hirvonen finished in third place, meaning that whoever finishes ahead out of Loeb and Hirvonen on Rally GB will be crowned champion, Loeb bidding for a sixth straight World Rally title.

Petter Solberg had a strong rally, finishing fourth in his first event in a Citroen C4, having switched from his outdated Xsara. Sebastien Ogier finished fifth, ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala.

Dave has highlights of the whole event at 6pm this evening.

Jason Plato denied Tom Chilton and Team Aon their first win of the season as he passed the Ford on the run to the finish line in the first race of the day at Brands Hatch.

Chilton had led Plato from pole position but was under continued pressure from Plato, until the end of the final lap when he ran wide out of Stirlings, losing momentum to Plato's Chevrolet, eventually resulting in Plato taking the victory by just 15 hundredths of a second, the closest winning margin in championship history.

Fabrizio Giovanardi completed the podium in third, while standings leader Colin Turkington finished eighth after starting tenth.

The result means that Giovanardi is now just 6 points behind Team RAC driver Turkington, with Plato just a further eight points behind, with 34 points still up for grabs in the remaining two races today.

Round 29 of 30 is due to begin at 14:20 local time, with live coverage on ITV4.

Full Results

Sebastian Vettel won the Japanese Grand Prix as Jenson Button finished eighth to ensure that Rubens Barrichello, who finished seventh, only reduced the Brit's lead by one point.

Vettel led from pole position for Red Bull, ahead of a surprise second place for Toyota's Jarno Trulli, with Lewis Hamilton finishing third.

Button is now 14 points ahead of Barrichello, with Vettel just two points further back.

Full Report at Autosport.com

Colin Turkington goes into tomorrow's first of three races with a thirteen point advantage over his nearest rival, Fabrizio Giovanardi. We assess his chances of stopping the Italian taking a third straight title.

Turkington, 27, has shown great maturity this season as he has mixed with experienced touring car names such as Giovnardi, Plato and Neal. He has got to grips with the rear-wheel drive BMW, using its start-line advantage to great effect. He also has a knack of keeping on the road when leading or under-pressure, unlike other BTCC youngsters. This will be important tomorrow in case Giovanardi eats into his advantage early on in the day.

Both Turkington and Giovanardi must watch out for Jason Plato, who does have a 28 point deficit to make up, but a collision for Colin or Gio could hand it to Plato on a plate. The title would be a great acheivement after only getting the RML Chevrolet deal together days before the start of the season.

Who do you think will win the title? Vote in the poll on the right-hand side or leave a comment.

Team Aon driver Tom Chilton has surprised the BTCC field by claiming pole position at Brands Hatch for Round 28 of the championship. Chilton, who scored the team's first podium finish in his Ford Focus at the last round at Rockingham, set a time of 1:33.159 on the Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch.

Title contenders Jason Plato (Racing Silverline) and Fabrizio Giovanardi (VX Racing) will start tomorrow's first race in second and third on the grid. Championship leader Colin Turkington will start down in tenth place for Team RAC.

Full Results